The latest ruling against Texas by a three-judge federal panel has found "intent to dilute minority voting strength" when state lawmakers redrew congressional districts in 2011.

The key word here is "intent."

State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas

For state Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, the ruling reinforces his argument and confirms his concern of a pattern by state GOP lawmakers to discriminate against Latinos.

It's difficult not to see that pattern, when you look at the growing list of GOP policies and laws that have taken place since 2011, he says.

That's the year Latinos became the majority in the state's public schools, and the year that the Texas Legislature cut $5.4 billion from public school funding.

Lawmakers added most of it back two years later, but some programs — especially bilingual — have never fully recovered. The public school population has only grown since then, and schools are struggling to keep up.

Also in 2011, lawmakers redrew congressional district boundaries, and their new map was found to intentionally discriminate against minority populations. The Legislature introduced a voter ID bill that also was found by federal courts to intentionally discriminate, and lawmakers offered sanctuary city legislation for the first time.

In addition, Texas GOP leaders have pushed for greater Texas-Mexico border control funding at a time when immigration has been flat.

This legislative session, the GOP is pushing a sanctuary cities ban to punish both local governments that provide sanctuary for immigrants and local officials who promote such policies.

Anchía says he's simply connecting the dots.

"Since the future of this state depends on how well Latinos do, these attacks not only hurt Latinos, but impact the state as a whole," he said.

Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, agreed that there is a longstanding pattern, including the voter ID law, that is only reinforced by this latest ruling. He attributes that to the "close alignment between race and political party in Texas, perhaps more so than in other states."

In fact, the Texas GOP had claimed that the 2011 maps were drawn purely for partisan and not racial advantage. The courts were unconvinced.

Saenz pointed out that Latinos are not a monolithic community. Not all Latinos vote the same way. But, "it's just that they skew so heavily in one direction that it's viewed in the Republican Party's interest to suppress that vote" in Texas, he said.

"Instead of reaching out to Latinos and addressing their concerns, you see policy proposals that double down on antipathy toward the Latino community."

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio

U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, who represents Congressional District 23, one of the districts affected by the latest ruling, disputed that characterization in an email.

"I represent a 70 percent Hispanic district that produced record turnout in 2016, voted for Hillary Clinton and against my Democratic opponent," he said. "I passed nine pieces of legislation signed into law last Congress, more than any other member in the country.

"The voters graded my paper and saw fit to vote me back in office. No matter the district lines, I will continue that hard work on behalf of all of my constituents."

The Democratic Party in Texas has also shown it's willing to redraw districts to dilute opportunities for Latino candidates, said Lydia Camarillo, vice president of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.

But in the last cycles of redistricting, "the intent to discriminate by Republicans has been clear," and the courts have said so, she said.

And yet, if Republicans' main reason for its anti-Hispanic public policies has been to hold on to power at the statewide level for as long as possible, a look at the demographic shift going on in the state would validate their fears.

In the last election, Latino voters set a record for turnout. Over 2 million cast a vote, Camarillo said.

"In this last cycle, we can say that without a doubt about 3 million Latinos were registered to vote," also a record, she said.

"And we also believe that, when the final numbers come out from the census, they will show that 2.3 million to 2.5 million Latinos voted."

But the reason isn't just demographic growth, she said. "Latinos understand what's at stake for them."